The Kallsup is about as simple as a Bluetooth speaker can get. It's a 2.75-inch plastic cube enclosure with four short feet on the bottom and a single speaker inside, and it's available in pink, white, and yellow green.
Music has become the backdrop to almost everything, cooking, working, reading, but the hardware that plays it often looks like a leftover from a tech store, plastic boxes that clash with furniture. There is a tension between wanting good sound in every room and not wanting your living space to feel like a gadget shelf. A speaker that behaves like hi-fi but looks like it belongs on a sideboard can quietly solve that.
Woot has an excellent deal on refurbished Sonos Arc SL soundbars, the 2020 model that's similar to the original Arc aside from not having any microphones. It debuted for $749, but you can get one with a one-year Sonos warranty for $319.99 while supplies last. If this discount doesn't sell out quickly (which it may), the promotion will end in two days. Definitely a nice deal considering Sonos itself offers the same model refurbished for $539.
The power of sound is somewhat understated in our image-heavy culture, color and texture a huge part of how we understand design. Yet the tactile and audial are just as important, offering a depth of feeling - a responsiveness that is more than visual, it is somatic. A felt reverberation of sound, and the tactile qualities of it, are central to understanding Rhapsody, a new speaker from Canadian brand Sonoforma. Doubling as a guitar cabinet, founder Mike Nopper makes furniture for musicians, tuning in to the specific wants and needs of some of our most particular hobbyists and professionals. For audiophiles, speaker systems are a serious and complex issue. Rhapsody understands this importance: it's built to work like gear, and live like furniture.
Sonos' soundbars are incredibly easy to use; as long as your TV has an eARC port and your home has Wi-Fi, you can maximize their performance and features. All of Sonos' home theater products -- soundbars, rear speakers, and subwoofers -- offer exceptional performance with a plug-and-play setup.
Rather than use Wi-Fi to get multiple speakers playing the same audio, though, the Marshall Heddon uses Auracast. The hub connects to services like Spotify Connect or Tidal over Wi-Fi, or other devices through Google Cast and AirPlay, and then shares that audio over Auracast to the Marshall Acton III, Stanmore III and Wobrun III speakers. You can control playback over a connected Marshall app and the Heddon also has RCA ports to connect other speakers or a record player to the system.
You'll get the most out of this soundbar if your set has an eARC port. This soundbar promises room-filling sound, Dolby Atmos support, Apple AirPlay, Bluetooth, voice commands, and touch controls, and operates as both a soundbar and a smart speaker for your living room. Also: I changed 3 settings on my Sonos soundbar to instantly improve the audio performance Sonos released the Arc Ultra in late 2024, giving the company plenty of time to iron out software issues.
Most consumers believe punchy bass and sizzling highs are key to a good speaker. If that sounds like your taste, then you have a lot of options available for you (because a lot of manufacturers cater to booming bass). But the mark of a truly good speaker is the ability to blend the sound in such a way that you hear it as the artist intended.
There's something oddly comforting about watching the vinyl resurgence happen in real time. We've collectively decided that convenience isn't everything, that sometimes the ritual matters as much as the result. But while turntables have been getting their moment in the spotlight, another piece of audio history has been quietly staging its own comeback: the dedicated digital audio player. Enter the DAP-1, a concept device from Frankfurt-based 3D artist